WATERFALLS OF NOVA SCOTIA

ELDRIDGE FALLS
Falmouth, Hants County
44N59.498  64W13.613
20T E0403288 N4982753

RIVER: Allen Brook
CLASS: plunge
SIZE: 12'
RATING: excellent (***)

TRAIL: roadside/dirt road
DISTANCE: 600m
HIKING TIME: 30 minutes
CONDITIONS: moderate

Geocache: none

NS Atlas Page: 57/X1
NS topo map: 021A16 (Windsor)

Driving Directions: from Windsor, drive NW on HWY101, and take Exit 7 towards Falmouth. At the end of this road, turn right onto HWY1. Take the left-side road at the Y-intersection 170m along onto Falmouth Back Road. You will come to another Y-intersection 2.1km along, and again, stay to the left to remain on Falmouth Back Road. Continue on this road 1.7km, turning right onto Eldridge Road. This road rapidly deteriorates once you pass the ball fields and resevoir. There is a fairly good parking spot approximately 2km down Eldridge Road, but high-clearance vehicles can drive up to the falls site.

Trail Description: hike up the road 600m to where Allen Brook crosses under the road. The falls are located right next to the road, on the downstream side. (Just before reaching the falls site, you pass a crossroads where Eldridge Road meets the Old Coach Road that originally ran over Grey Mountain to Bishopville, connecting over the South Mountain to Melanson and Wolfville beyond.)

One of the sad things ive discovered hiking thru Nova Scotia are the places people use as illegal dumps. Eldridge Falls has suffered from this indignity, with an old vehicle and a medium sized pile of old household garbage dumped over into the ravine next to the falls. Be cautious in climbing down the bank immediately next to the falls as there is rusted material here, but the falls themselves don't really suffer from it, if you get close to the bottom you can turn your back on the me and still get a feel for what this location offers.

The community of Eldridge is one shrouded in a bit of mystery, as researchers are unsure if the foundations and walls in the woods beyond the falls (onwards up the road) might have been the site of an early Acadian Settlement, and early maps of the area refer to the brook here as French Mill Brook.